Everything Beautiful Began After by Simon Van Booy

Author:Simon Van Booy
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Art, Contemporary, Adult
ISBN: 9780061661488
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2011-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-Two

Henry’s apartment was warm and dark. It was not late, but they were all very tired and had nothing to say. Rebecca fell asleep again on the metro from Piraeus. George agreed to stay over if he could borrow some clothes. The professor was expected early the next morning.

Henry brewed some tea, but Rebecca and George were already asleep by the time it was ready. The smell of peppermint filled the kitchen. Henry drank a cup and thought about their day together. He checked on George and then went into his bedroom, where he shed his clothes silently and slipped into bed with Rebecca.

A scooter went past.

Light from the hall fell upon their bed like a spine.

Henry turned to kiss Rebecca and saw that she was awake.

She looked at him and stroked his face with her hand.

“I love you,” she said.

“I love you too.”

Then he asked what she had been thinking about when he swam out to meet her.

She hesitated for a moment. “Can I tell you tomorrow?”

Henry smiled. “Is it something about George?”

“No, it’s about you and me.”

Henry blinked quickly.

“But not tonight, Henry, maybe tomorrow when we’re alone.”

“I think we should talk tonight,” Henry said. “Otherwise I’ll worry about it tomorrow.”

Rebecca touched his arm. “Can we please wait?”

“George is dead asleep—I checked.”

Rebecca closed her eyes. Henry turned abruptly to face the shutters.

“Are you mad at me?” she said.

“A little,” Henry said. “If there’s something you need to say—say it.”

“I’m afraid to.”

Henry turned to face her. “I’ve spent my whole childhood with people too afraid to speak—so if there’s something you need to say, say it, Rebecca.”

Rebecca sat up.

“So?” Henry said.

“George is really asleep?”

“He’s dead asleep.”

Rebecca covered her face with her hands. “It’s serious.”

“Whatever it is—I’m yours,” he said. “I love you now.”

“I’m afraid that if I tell you, you’ll leave me and I’ll turn out just like my mother and sister.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means I’m pregnant.”

Henry’s face dropped.

“At least, I think I am.”

“How?”

“I missed my period and then took a test,” she said. “And the test was positive.”

“Jesus. Jesus,” Henry said.

Rebecca reached for him, but he pulled away into some private world.

“Henry,” she said softly, but he seemed not to hear her. “Henry,” she said again.

“It’s awful,” he said, “so awful, you’ll hate me.”

Rebecca threw back the covers and went over to the window, where she stood, a shadowy outline against the starlight.

“There’s something I have to tell you that’s awful,” he said.

“Tell me then,” she replied coldly.

His instinct at that moment was to hold her, but Henry found himself suddenly pinned by the sight of his baby brother, not asleep but dead. His parents screaming. They pulled at his body with scissors.

The only baby Henry had ever held was no longer living.

Rebecca watched him cry. When she finally came near, he escaped into the bathroom and vomited. Then he sat quietly on the tiles.

By the time he went back into the bedroom, determined to admit everything, Rebecca was asleep and it was nearing dawn.

Henry got into bed and held her so tightly that she opened her eyes and smiled.

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